"When I tell people that I play hockey, they look at me like I'm something else," the Lena-Winslow senior said. "I love it.

"It makes me different out here and it's really cool to say I play hockey."

The Avalanche club hockey team is a high school squad based out of Monroe, Wis., and is sanctioned by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA). The co-op, in its second season, comprises eight schools, including Illinois schools Lena-Winslow and Freeport. Pecatonica (Wis.), Albany, Beloit Turner, Darlington, Monroe and Parkview are also part of the co-op.

Werhane is the only hockey player from Le-Win. He played in the Avalanche's inaugural season as a junior. Graduated senior T.J. Parrent and current sophomore Jarrod Kleckner, both from Freeport High School, are the only other players that have represented Illinois for the Avalanche.

Werhane played hockey since he was about eight years old, which is longer than he's played football. The senior played hockey in high school at Baraboo, Wis,, until he moved to Lena in April 2012.

He was worried at first, that he'd have to drive to Rockford or further to play one of his favorite sports - if he could even play at all.

"We had a great program up in Baraboo," Werhane said. "So that was one of my main concerns coming down here.

"It was big plus coming to Lena because of its great football program, but I was worried I'd have to go to Rockford or somewhere else.

"But when I moved down here, I found out there was a hockey co-op with Lena and Monroe and took the opportunity to play."

The forward is one of the more experienced hockey players on the Avalanche.

"When I was younger, I used to play in AAA leagues and club leagues that took me all over the Midwest," Werhane said. "I used to play tournaments in Fargo, North Dakota and I've played very high levels of hockey.

"Pretty much everyone else on my team hasn't had the same opportunities."

His leadership has helped Monroe through the growing pains of building its program.

"Gus is not only an excellent player, but an excellent leader on the team," Avalanche coach Nate Brown said. "He's one of the captains this year and has been an essential point of building the program.

"It takes a lot of hard work to build a program, and no matter how much experience you have, you're not going to just start with a lot of experience throughout the team."

The Avalanche plays in the Badger South Conference with Oregon, Madison Edgewood, Monona Grove, Stoughton and McFarland. Monroe finished with just two wins last season, but has already bested that with three.

"These guys have worked too hard from last year not to get more wins," Brown said.

It's a different feel for Werhane coming from a notable program like Baraboo, which competes in the Badger North, and from a football powerhouse like Le-Win. The Panthers clinched their second state football championship in November in an 11-3 season.

Now winning isn't as common for the Avalanche.

"It's a big difference," Werhane said. "It's a different vibe and I can't say I like it, but it's a growing program.

"It's cool that I started as an original member of this hockey team."

It's far from an easy journey for his team, but wins and losses don't sour the experience.

"I have great teammates up there," he said. "We may not win the most, but I really enjoy that locker room with every one of those guys. I have a great time and I'm blessed with the opportunity that I was given to be able to play both football and hockey here - two sports I'm very passionate about."